What's Coming Will Come
by Book girl fan
Summary: Life after school is always hard to think about. It's even harder if you're a werewolf.


_Title comes from this quote from Hagrid: 'What's comin' will come, an' we'll meet it when it does.'_

"Moony?"

Sirius, followed by James and Peter, stepped into the room and looked around in amazement. A book explosion appeared to have occurred, with Remus' bed as its nexus point. His bedspread was invisible under all the books and papers, some stacked as many as three high. Even the floor was covered, with only a few spots left bare, just big enough for Remus' feet as he paced back and forth.

"What happened in here, Moony? Did the books start breeding?" Carefully picking his way through the piles, Sirius picked up one of the books, examining the cover. "Herbology for Beginners; what are you doing with a first year book?"

Remus didn't look at him, still pacing back and forth with his hands tangled in his tawny hair. "Tutoring."

"Tutoring?" James skirted around the chaos towards his own bed, which was merely messy. "Between OWLs, Prefect duties, Marauder business, and your 'furry little problem', I don't even know how you have time for your regular schoolwork! Let alone helping other people with theirs!"

Sirius shrugged, letting the book fall back down to the bed. "We didn't need any tutoring when we were first years. This year's firsties gone soft, have they?"

"Just because you two didn't need help doesn't mean nobody did," Remus snapped, snatching the book from the bed and replacing it carefully on top of its original pile. "I helped the Kelleger twins with their Astronomy a few times, and Dorcas struggled with Potions nearly as much as I did."

"Do you think..." Peter started hesitantly, obviously wary of Remus' foul mood. "I could help you pack the books away so you can sleep." He started picking up some of the books, gathering them into his arms.

Remus turned on him, snarling, "I don't need sleep!"

Peter squeaked, turning into Wormtail and hiding under the bed as the books he was hiding crashed around him.

Remus looked stricken. "Peter, I'm sorry, please come out. I didn't mean to shout at you, it's–" Involuntary, his gaze flicked to the window, where the full moon would be rising the very next night. "Please." He sank onto the bed, stacks wobbling around him, and buried his head in his hands.

Sirius brushed books aside, making space for him to sit beside Remus on the bed. Wrapping one arm around Remus' shaking shoulders, he asked quietly, "What's wrong, Moony? Even the moon doesn't normally get you this worked up."

"There's just too much going on," Remus said, voice muffled by his hands. "We're only fifth years, but we're also already fifth years, and there's not much time left here."

"That doesn't mean you have to do everything now!" James bounced up and down slightly with his vehemence. "We know you're Prefect Moony, always wanting to be the best, but you can take a break sometimes. You don't need to do everything."

"But I do!" Remus lifted his head to look at James. "I don't know what's going to happen after we leave Hogwarts, but I know the magical world is not kind to werewolves. This is probably going to be the best I'll ever get, and I want to make the most of every moment of it."

James fell back down onto his bed, staring at Remus, unable to form the words to reply.

Sirius had no such problems. Taking hold of Remus' shoulders, he maneuvered the other boy around until they were facing each other. "You listen to me, Remus," he said with a sternness that was rare to him, "I don't want you saying anything like that again. This is not going to be the best you'll ever get, because we won't let it. Did you think that, what, we'd all leave Hogwarts and we'd just forget about you?"

Remus' glance down and to the side showed that he had been thinking exactly that.

Sirius shook him lightly. "Not a chance. You're unforgettable, Moony. We wouldn't become illegal Animagi for just anyone, you know."

Remus half-smiled, acknowledging the point.

"So calm down and stop worrying so much! Who cares what happens after Hogwarts, care that we're here now, and we've gone _a whole week_ without pranking Snivellus." Putting his hands to his chest, Sirius fluttered his eyelashes at Remus. "Aren't you proud of us, Moony?"

His smile growing, Remus batted Sirius away. "Yes, yes, very proud. You do so much for me, I know." Remus' expression faded back into tense worry. "But I still want to make the most of my time at Hogwarts."

James finally recovered his words, shifting forwards. "We know you do, mate. But don't drive yourself mad doing it, alright?" He grinned suddenly. "That's Sirius' job."

Remus laughed. "Which one, to be mad, or to drive me mad?"

Sirius gasped in mock offence. "My dear Moony, I am wounded by your lack of faith in me. You don't think I can do both? I'm wounded, I tell you. Wounded!" He collapsed dramatically back on Remus' bed, sending books flying.

"You can come out now, Pete!" James called. "Moony's got his senses back now."

"I never lost my senses!" Remus protested.

"You thought we'd leave you alone to be poor and starving and miserable," Sirius said, sitting up suddenly. "If that's not a sign of madness, I don't know what is."

Peter crept out from under the bed, but stayed as a rat, nosing hesitantly around the bedposts. Remus picked him up and placed him gently on the bed. "I'm really sorry, Peter," he said softly. "I was just so worried about what will happen after Hogwarts, but that's not an excuse. I never meant to scare you like that."

Peter nudged his nose against Remus' leg, accepting his apology. Remus ran a finger over his back, scratching between Peter's ears with one nail in the way he knew Peter liked best. Peter raised his head closer to Remus' finger, squeaking happily.

"Oi!" Sirius protested. "How come the rest of us don't get scritches?"

"James is too big to transform in here," Remus said innocently, still scratching between Peter's ears. "And I don't think he's as fond of scritches as Pete is, or I'd give him some too."

Sirius pouted, shuffling closer on the bed, uncaring of the books that were falling to the floor in his wake. "But what about me?"

"What about you? The way you're letting all my books fall to the floor?" Remus remarked mildly. "If Madam Pince refuses to let me borrow anything else again, I will curse your hair to smell like dog vomit for the next year. And you know James wouldn't stop me."

Sirius turned to look at James, who held his hands up, grinning. "He's warned you, mate. It's on your head now."

Sirius' face crumpled, and in the space of a single breath there was a big black dog standing where he had been. Padfoot shuffled closer to Remus, whining softly.

"Oh, alright," Remus said with a smile, reaching down to scratch Padfoot's ears. "You know I can't resist your puppy dog eyes."

"Just imagine if we could bring him down to the common room, he'd be getting scratches from everyone there," James joked. He hopped off his bed to kneel next to Padfoot, rubbing his side vigorously. Padfoot barked, then let his tongue loll happily as the petting continued.

Wormtail, still curled against Remus' side enjoying Remus' finger scratching between his ears, transformed back into Peter. With the ease of long practice, Remus smoothly changed to combing his fingers through Peter's fair hair. "Sorry I frightened you, Pete."

"Stop apologising, Moony!" James called from the ground, where he had started wrestling with Padfoot. "You've said it a million times by now!"

The other two boys ignored him. Peter shrugged the best he could while still lying against Remus' side. "It's alright. I know you didn't mean to." He sat up, Remus' fingers falling away. "Do you want to play Gobstones?"

Remus looked dubious. "Is there enough room?" Peter followed his gaze to the floor, where books and papers were still scattered around, spread even further by James and Sirius' tussling.

"We could ask James to move?" Peter suggested hesitantly, but they both knew he didn't mean it.

"I have a better idea," Remus said. He took a deep breath, then looked Peter straight in the eyes. "We should pack my books away. That would give us space to play."

Peter looked uncertain, obviously remembering Remus' short tempered response to that exact suggestion only moments earlier. "Are you sure? We could always play on my bed, or even go down to the common room..."

"No, we can play here." Remus attempted a weak smile. "I have too many books here anyway. I don't need this many."

Sirius abruptly sat up, turning back into Padfoot and leaving James, who had been clutching at his tail, looking at his hands confusedly. "James! Did you hear what Moony said? He just admitted he had too many books!"

James turned a mock worried look on Remus. "Are you feeling alright, Moony? Do you want to lie down? Maybe we should call Madam Pomfrey."

"She'll be able to fix it, but she'll keep you overnight just to be sure." Sirius smirked wickedly. "You'd like that, wouldn't you, Remus? Spending some more time with the dear matron?"

Remus flushed, looking down at the mattress. "She just looks after me," he said softly. "I wouldn't be here without her."

A pile of books toppled to the floor beside Peter, prompting him to squeal loudly and distracting James and Sirius from any further teasing. "It's fallen! Oh, I haven't broken any of them, have I? I can't be banned from the library, where would I study?!"

"Don't fuss, Peter," Sirius groaned. "You can always just study in the common room." Still, he and James crawled over to the pile and began picking up books, teasing forgotten.

Remus mouthed, 'Thank you' to Peter. Peter winked at him. "I can never concentrate in the common room, Padfoot, you know that. There's always something more interesting going on!"

"Anything's more interesting than homework!" James paused piling up books to stick his tongue out at the thought. "It's all too easy. Studying's only interesting when you get to choose what you do."

"McGonagall is letting us choose our own projects next year," Remus volunteered. "That could be interesting."

"Does becoming an Animagus count as an acceptable project?" Sirius put a finger to his lips in mock-thoughtfulness. "Or does it have to be something you haven't already done?" He let his hands drop. "Face it, Remus, we've learnt everything we're going to in class! We should stick with our own 'independent projects'. A sly grin crept into his face. "How do you think Snivellus would look in pink?"


End file.
